Bodybuilding - Exercises and Supplements

This is a discussion on Bodybuilding - Exercises and Supplements within Shifting gears, part of the Around the Corner category; Originally Posted by harry10
Now the notable omission is - back and legs.
Reason i am not doing that currently ...

Now the notable omission is - back and legs.
Reason i am not doing that currently is because of lower back pain am experiencing these days.

They will be dere soon in place of abs/cardio day as i am doing abs and cardio almost on daily basis for half hour.

So i am training triceps and shoulders as well consistently still the bench press mystery is not getting resolved.
Also i do bench press first thing after the warm up and stretching- should i change that?

Back workouts in bodybuilding sense actually do not touch upon the lower back. So why ain't you incorporating those?

Pullups/chinups, dumbell rowing, seated rows (cables) etc don't really incorporate lower back.
And for legs you can atleast do the extensions and curls, which again don't trouble the lower back.

Well for one, which other chest exercises are you progressing the weights with?

^^ alpha1 if you are referring to the workout routines i have posted above (i am guessing you are, since no one else has), then yeah the 2 workouts i posted were some of the variations i might use.
The weekend twice a day for 3 days workout plan wouldn't fall in your description i guess. So it must be the workout plan suggested above to harry10 :-) I don't expect him to stick to that one body part a week plan for long, but that is what he wanted, a 6 day plan, so i put it down that way.
Personally i prefer to cover all my parts in 3-4 days (3 workouts or 6 workouts) and then repeat. So i will come back to the same muscle in 4-5 days and perform some variation or a different set exercises for that muscle :-)

But do enlighten us on muscle growth, nerve repair and all. I am very interested in enhancing my understanding (which is mostly from 2 editions arnold encyclopedias, bruce lee books and personal experience) and i am sure others are too.

I was referring to one WO that you had posted. It contained just too many off/rest days.
And I have seen many similar workouts on internet.

My main agitation (if you could call that) against these workouts is that:
1. They make you exercise a muscle only once a week.
2. Muscle recovery takes approx 36-48 hours (say 2 days) after a workout.

Now tell me, what is your muscle doing while it is resting for another 5 days?
Of course it is helping other muscles during compound movements - no doubt.
But it is not really "grilling" the particular muscle.

CNS recovery is usually pegged at 1 week.
So some ppl defend their once a week WO, citing this.

My argument against this is:
1. Bodybuilding is different from strength training. Pretty different. Strength training is more about lifting as heavy as possible, bodybuilding is about increasing the muscle size as much as possible. Both result in each other a little, but not too much.
2. Strength training rep cycle is usually 3-5 reps.
3. Bodybuilding rep cycle is usually 6-12 reps. Mostly 8-10 reps.
4. The reason why both have different reps is not because you are supposed to do it that way. Its got to do with HOW MUCH weight you can do for 5 rep or 10 rep compared to max possible load you can take (1 rep max).
What has been observed is that at loads lesser than 80-85%, the muscles increase the force by utilizing more fibre, whereas for higher loads, its got more to do with the electrical pusles your nervous system gives to your muscle.

So say you can do 60 kg curl for one rep max, at 20kg load, your biceps would employ say 50% fibres. At 30kg they may involve 80% fibres.
This is how you are able to generate more force.
At roughly 50kg load, your body switches over from recruiting more fibres to actually generating more pulses (which is how your muscles contract). This increased pulse rate, generates more force.

6. Based on this - your purpose if it is to build more strength, you will take up very heavy loads, do small reps (simply because you cannot do more with that weight), and train to fatigue on every set.

In this your body requires 1 week to recover because you are utilizing muscles as well as increased nervous activity.

However, in BB routines, you don't do this. You don't use such heavy loads. You don't train to failure in all sets.
You don't really strain your CNS, its only the muscles that are under load, and they require 2 days tops to reload themselves.

^^ alpha got your point and do agree. Thanks for the insights. The CNS part is new to me and its good learning behind the whole funda.
My only defense is that i don't really do the workout mentioned above, unless it is a one off (once in a few months) to change things for a week. Also i did mention in the end of the post that the workout i had detailed could be done in 3 days and repeated twice a week :-)

How do you guys find time to work out 6 days a week? I can barely manage 3 days a week and hence have to cram multiple muscle groups into one session.

Something like Chest and triceps, Biceps and back, legs and cardio. And then I do some pull-ups and one ab workout every time I'm there, as I can do them while I'm taking a break.

What i have started doing is, squeeze in 5 workouts on the weekend. So i start on friday evening and then 2 workouts on sat and 2 on sunday. I keep changing the exercises and combinations of muscle groups to keep things interesting.
Rest of the week, I try to squeeze in 1-2 workouts at home which is most often some martial arts for my cardio endurance and flexibility OR on a rare occasion i will do 100s of chest/tricep/vertical dips, free squats, pullups at home. Besides this every morning I do yoga for 20-30 mins (mostly breathng but sometimes stretching).

Quote:

Originally Posted by sujaylahiri

Yeah I saw that documentary before. A must watch for everyone here. Wish I could show it to those buffed up guys at the gym, who are on their way to erectile dysfunctions and kidney failures.

I am not sure if anyone here (other you and me), have seen it yet most are too busy looking at supplement labels (just kidding guys ) or working out to spare 1.5hrs for this movie.

What i have started doing is, squeeze in 5 workouts on the weekend. So i start on friday evening and then 2 workouts on sat and 2 on sunday. I keep changing the exercises and combinations of muscle groups to keep things interesting.
Rest of the week, I try to squeeze in 1-2 workouts at home which is most often some martial arts for my cardio endurance and flexibility OR on a rare occasion i will do 100s of chest/tricep/vertical dips, free squats, pullups at home. Besides this every morning I do yoga for 20-30 mins (mostly breathng but sometimes stretching).

That makes more sense to me now. I should really crank up my cardio workout though. Although I look pretty lean overall, I know I could really lose those last few ounces of fat from my lower abdomen region. There have been some weeks where I've been too lazy to finish up my cardio, so I would just skip it.